This Is How the Cullens Do It
by ladyenterprise
Summary: This story started out as a celebration of my 50th review...now it's completely evolved into something totally different! Just a buch of fluffy humor about Bella, the Cullens, and some of our favorite holidays...
1. Halloween

_Hey everyone! This is a celebration of my 50th review! I really appreciate all of my reviewers. The constructive criticism really helps me grow and know what parts of my writing I need to fix. Please keep it up! I wont keep you waiting any longer, here it is!_

_Bellabookworm9_

**Disclaimer (I am so bad about putting these up here): I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or any songs mentioned in this story. But I do own the idea! (Hey, it's a start.)**

_P.S. I wanted this to take place after New Moon, but I realized that Bella should be a vampire and they would all have graduated. That would totally screw up the whole story, so I want everyone to pretend that they have not graduated and that Bella is still human. This is NOT Edward's fault. I just don't know when else to have it happen. Edward is never there for this holiday! So just imagine…_

I woke up in my bed. Something was wrong. I realized there was something bouncing around by head.

"Edward?" I asked.

"No, silly! It's Alice!" she said, settling down.

"What's up?" Alice didn't usually wake me up. That was Edward's job.

"It's Halloween!" she said it like it was the best holiday in the world.

"So? I'm way too old to be dressing up and trick-or-treating. And it's morning. Don't people usually save that stuff for nighttime?" I had no doubt that Alice wanted to take this chance to dress me up in some ridiculous outfit.

"I never said you would be trick-or-treating. And yes, they do save it for nighttime. I just wanted to show you what you'll be wearing tonight." I groaned.

"Alice—"

"Don't worry, Bella. I picked out a dress that wont trip you every five seconds." She rolled her beautiful topaz eyes.

"Why are you—" I realized something. "Hold on. A dress?"

"Yes. We're going to show you how to _really_ celebrate Halloween. Cullen style."

Just what I needed. Costumes, candy and—in my case—Cullens.

"Hey Bella." Edward said as I stepped out of the car. I'd ridden with Alice this morning since she was bouncing around like a maniac and wouldn't let me out of her sight.

"Hey Edward." I said, going to him. "I missed you this morning."

"I missed you too." He said, taking my hand and kissing my cheek. "Did Alice tell you what's going on tonight?"

"I know that I will be celebrating Halloween 'Cullen style' and that I will be forced to wear the most ridiculous dress in the world, but nothing else."

"Good." He said, putting on that smirk that told me he was keeping something from me.

"This is not fair." I said, tired of being surprised. His grin just widened.

My day passed fairly quickly, until I arrived at lunch.

"Hey Bella!" Mike called me.

"Hi Mike. What's up?" I tried to be polite but he was getting on my nerves and Edward was growling softly at my side.

"Well some of us were talking about having a costume party tonight and we were wondering if you would like to come." He kept shooting glances at Edward. I had a feeling that Edward would not be welcome.

"I'd love to, Mike, but I have plans tonight." His face fell considerably.

"Oh. That's okay." He smiled halfheartedly and walked away.

"That kid gets on my nerves." Edward said, fury showing through in his voice.

"Edward. I _don't like him._" He sighed.

"I know. I just don't like some of the things he's thinking."

We bought our food and walked over to the table we shared with Alice. She was still bouncing. I wondered idly if she had ever stopped. It was like someone had fed her twenty packs of Pop Rocks or something.

"Bella! Are you ready?"

"For what?" I asked. I knew, but why was she asking now?"

"Didn't Edward tell you? We're skipping the rest of the day."

"We are?" I asked, looking up at him. He nodded, smiling.

"Eat your food, and we'll leave." I sat down, looking up at my surrogate sister.

"I can't wait until tonight! It's going to be so much fun, especially with you there, Bella!" Alice was perpetually bubbly, but I had never seen her so excited. This was going to be interesting.

I finished my food and stood up to throw the plate away. Alice grabbed it from my hands and danced over to do it herself. I let her. She needed something to help burn off all that energy.

"Come on!" she said, grabbing my hand and dragging me out the door. Edward followed us, grinning.

In the parking lot, I got into the car with Alice and Edward took his Volvo. Alice took me to my house and Edward drove off in the direction of his family's beautiful mansion.

"We're going to start here. Or you are anyways." She said, getting out of the car and letting me unlock the door and lead her upstairs into the bathroom I shared with Charlie.

She spent the last three hours of the school day, plus two more, dressing me up and applying makeup to my face. The dress I was wearing was a bright crimson color. It was tight to my upper body, accentuating my slim shape, and flowed out from my hips. Alice curled my hair so that it bounced when I walked and pinned it up so that it wouldn't 'get in my way.'

"You look so great, Bella! Edward is going to love it!"

"So why am I wearing a dress again?"

"It's part of how we celebrate Halloween." The doorbell rang. "Oh! I almost forgot. Did you get candy to hand out?"

"Of course I did, Alice. It's in the kitchen."

I walked downstairs and got the candy out of the cabinet. I put it in a plastic bowl I had bought for the occasion and went to answer the door.

"Trick or Treeeeeat!" I was greeted by a hoard of seven- and eight-year-olds.

"Here you go!" I said, trying to sound kind, even though the screeching had hurt my ears a bit. "Happy Halloween!" I said as they walked down the driveway, comparing candy.

Alice was still bouncing behind me.

"If anyone asks, say you're the wife of a vampire. Oh! I almost forgot—"

"You seem to be doing that a lot lately." I muttered. Alice sighed.

"It's a figure of speech. I didn't actually almost forget. I just didn't tell you yet. I have to paint the bite mark on your neck."

"The _what_?" I said.

"The bite mark." She said, like it was the most natural thing in the world. "You have to have a bite mark if you're going to be a vampire's wife."

"You don't have one." I muttered again. Alice sighed, exasperated.

"It's a _costume _Bella. I didn't mean it literally."

"I know. I just hate that I have to wear _more _makeup. If that's possible."

"It's only a little bit. Trust me." She sat me down in a chair and pulled out a tube of fake blood. She applied it to my neck in two little dots and then some droplets flowing out from them.

"That's not what a real vampire bite looks like, is it?" I asked.

"No, but nobody knows that—except you and us—so it doesn't matter."

The doorbell rang. I walked to answer it and almost tripped over my dress.

"Be careful, Bella." Alice called from the other room.

"I _am, _Alice. My body just wont cooperate with my brain." I heard her chuckle in the kitchen. I opened the door and gasped.

Instead of a group of screeching children, I found myself faced with the most beautiful creature on earth. Edward in a tux. God, he looked so good in black. Then he smiled his perfect crooked smile. I almost passed out.

"Good job, Alice!" he called over my shoulder. I had to laugh at that.

"Thanks!" she called back.

"You look, uhhh, good." I said. It was a huge understatement. He chuckled and I blushed. Why couldn't I make sense while in his presence?

"So do you." He said, "Can I come in or are you going to keep me here until we leave?"

"Oh." I said, "Yeah, you can come in." I tried not to trip over my dress on the way back to the kitchen, but I didn't have much luck. Edward caught me before I fell flat on my face. My cheeks were flaming. "Thanks." I mumbled.

"No problem."

Alice was sitting in one of the chairs at the kitchen table. She was still bouncing.

"So will you two tell me _something _about what I am going to be doing tonight?" I really hated surprises.

"Well—" Alice glanced up at Edward and he nodded. "We'll stay here and give out candy until nine o'clock and then leave for our house. That's all I can tell you without giving anything away."

"So what does Charlie think I'm doing?" I winced as I realized he probably knew I had skipped school today. Small town gossips and everything.

"He knows all about it." Alice said, "I told him. He agreed readily enough when I said Edward wasn't going to be there."

"He's not?" I started hyperventilating. Alice rolled her eyes.

"Of _course _he's going to be there Bella! I had to say something to get Charlie to agree."

"Oh." I said, feeling like an idiot. The doorbell rang again.

"Trick or Treeet!" Here we go again.

After three and a half hours of screaming children amped-up on a night's worth of candy, I was grateful to be climbing into Edward's car. I let out a sigh as I buckled myself in.

"What?' he asked me.

"Those kids are _crazy._" I said. He laughed and I glared at him. "You didn't have to give them candy." I said, still glaring.

"True." He said smiling at my irritation. "At least you don't have to deal with them all day, every day."

"Oh _God._" I said. That would be like torture.

He stopped the car and my door opened, almost simultaneously.

"Come on!" He was almost as excited as Alice.

"Please don't start bobbing." I said.

"What?" he looked at me like I was crazy.

"You're acting like Alice. She was bobbing up and down earlier."

"Oh." He said, realizing I didn't have some sort of strange disease. "I promise I wont start bobbing." He grinned.

We walked into his house and I gasped. What was with me and gasping every time a door opened?

The house was completely dark, except for a few candles that were placed on tables. The wall-sized window that looked out on the Cullen's backyard showed me that that was where everyone was. The children were running around—at least that's what I guessed, since I could only see the occasional blur—and Carlisle and Esme were standing near a table set up with Edward's stereo, laughing. There were orange paper lanterns strung from the trees that bordered the yard, illuminating the area enough for a human to be able to see.

"Hey Bella!" Emmett was suddenly right in front of me. I jumped.

"H-hey Emmett." Edward growled at his brother. "Come on Edward. I'm sure he didn't mean it." Edward stopped.

"Come on Bella! We've been waiting for you!" Alice was bouncing around the room again.

We all walked outside, Carlisle and Esme greeted me and told me how glad they were that I could come. Everyone was dressed up. All the men were in tuxes and all the women had on dresses. Alice had on a dark purple gown with pale blue sequins on it. Esme was wearing a dark blue dress that made her look at least ten years younger. Rosalie was wearing a dress in an orange color that a supermodel couldn't have pulled off. She made it look like the most gorgeous color in the world.

"So what's going on?" I asked. I felt like an idiot.

"We're having a party!" Alice said. Duh. Even _I _had figured that out.

"I figured that out, but what's so special about it?" Alice looked offended. "Not that I don't like it or anything." I said in a rush, "I was just wondering what makes it different from other parties." Her face brightened considerably.

"Well, for one thing, there are actual vampires at this one." We all grinned, "And we get to dance!" she said. Great. Dancing.

"Can I pick the first song? Please, please, please?" Emmett asked. Alice rolled her eyes.

"Sure, Emmett, go ahead."

"Yay!" he ran inside and came out with a CD. "I think this is it." He put the CD in and hidden speakers blasted "Bad To The Bone." We all laughed.

"What?" Emmett said. "I thought it was fitting."

"It is." Esme said, "But it's still funny." She and Carlisle were dancing in a way that didn't fit the song, but they didn't seem to care.

"Do you want to dance, Bella?" Edward asked me.

"No, but you'll probably make me anyways." He grinned and dragged me out onto the "dance floor."

"You said yourself that dancing with me wasn't as bad as dancing with anyone else." He said.

"Yes, but I like doing _anything _with you. So that's not fair." He sighed, and started dancing. I rested my head on his shoulder and just enjoyed the moment.

The song ended and there was a pause before the next song came on. "High School Never Ends" by Bowling For Soup. _This _song was ironic. All of the Cullen children had been to high school multiple times. I started giggling and noticed Alice was doing the same thing. Jasper, Edward, Rosalie, Esme and Carlisle were all smiling. Emmett hurried over to the stereo and took the CD out.

"Sorry." He said. "You pick now, Alice."

"Yay! I wont pick any strange or ironic songs, I promise." She said, running into the house and leaving Emmett looking like he wanted to go crawl into a hole and never come out. When Alice returned, she was holding up a CD that looked like it had been shot out of a cannon at one point.

Edward groaned—as did the rest of the family.

"What?" Alice asked, putting the CD into the stereo. "You don't like this song?"

"It's not that we don't like it, dear." Said Esme, "We've just heard it so many times…"

"Then one more wont hurt." Everyone groaned again.

"Why?" Edward said, so only I could hear. The song started. It wasn't bad, I'd heard the song multiple times on the radio, but the entire Cullen family—minus Alice—were covering their ears. Alice was dancing around like a ballerina.

"What's wrong with this song?" I asked Edward. Even though his ears were covered, I think he heard me.

"Alice listened to it almost nonstop a few years ago. Jasper finally persuaded her to stop by hiding the CD. She must have found it." Sure enough, Jasper was standing in the corner of the yard, receiving glares from his family. He looked ready to run away at any moment. Thankfully, the song ended before anything happened.

As everyone released his or her ears, Alice looked like she was truly sad that the song had ended.

"Can we listen to it one more time? Just one, I promise." She pleaded.

"NO!" They all shouted simultaneously. She looked hurt.

"Look, Alice. Why don't you come over one night and we can listen to it as many times as you want to." I sensed that I was going to regret this, but I had to find some way to end this without a fight.

"You mean like a slumber party?" she looked excited.

"I guess so." I said. I had never really had a slumber party before, but there's a first time for everything, right?

"Oh my gosh! It's gonna be so fun!" she said. I guessed she had probably had a vision about it.

"I'm sure it will be." I said to Alice.

"Hey Rose!" she yelled to Rosalie. "It's your turn!"

Rosalie just disappeared into the house and then reappeared. She placed her CD into the stereo without a word and grabbed Emmett's hand. An old song, classical, came on. It was soft, melodic, and graceful. How a song could be graceful, I had no idea, but it was. Edward grabbed my hand.

"You're dancing this time." He said.

"Hey! I danced for the first song even though I didn't want to, but you didn't dance for Alice's song."

"I was too busy saving my ears from the misery."

"That was mean." I said.

"You're still dancing." He said. I gave in. Dancing with him was just too good to give up. He grinned, guessing what I was thinking from the look on my face.

"Fine, but I am _not _dancing next time Emmett picks a song. Anywhere. Ever." He chuckled.

"I think he was just trying to be funny."

"He's _always_ trying to be funny. That's why I'm never dancing when he picks the song. He might pick something like, " I cringed, "Barbie." I didn't think that needed any more explanation. "Barbie Girl" was quite possibly the most horrific song I had ever heard.

Edward cringed too.

"I guess you have a point."

"So I win?" I grinned. I never won.

"I guess so."

"Yay!" I said.

When Rosalie's song was over, it was Jasper's turn. He picked a song similar to Rosalie's but more—emotional. Well, he _was _the one who manipulated emotions.

I danced with Edward only because I didn't feel like arguing anymore.

"So, no resistance this time?" he asked. I sighed.

"No." I said, trying to make it simple. I was a little tired.

"I won't argue with that." He said, and I could feel him smiling through my hair.

The next few songs were a blur of semi-silence and dancing. Esme picked a CD Edward had made her of her favorite song. Edward picked "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt. It was slightly cheesy, but I didn't mind. Then it was my turn.

"Come on Bella! You have to pick a song!" Alice was bouncing around me again.

"I didn't bring any CDs." I said.

"So go look through Edward's collection. He's got _thousands_."

"But—"

"Go ahead, Bella. You should pick something." I couldn't argue with Edward, so I walked up to his room and looked through his huge collection of CDs. I found the perfect one and waked back downstairs.

"Put this in there." I told Edward. I didn't want to screw up his precious stereo. He chuckled and put in the CD. As the first track started, everyone looked at me curiously. Claire de Lune was the song Edward had been listening to the day he skipped Biology because we were blood typing. Unknowing, I had passed out and had to be taken to the nurse.

The song reminded me of how fragile our relationship had been then. How…fluctuating.

Edward and I danced, never taking our eyes off each other. We reluctantly pulled apart when the song ended.

"It's almost midnight! Carlisle, it's your turn."

He walked into the house at a human pace, something that surprised me. The Cullens never walked when they could run. He came back outside minutes later, carrying an old guitar. Oh God, what has happened to the world. Guitar-playing vampires? Carlisle sat down on the grass and tuned the instrument, strumming a few chords before beginning. I recognized the song, but I couldn't put my finger on the name. That was, until…

_Bye, bye Miss American Pie…_

What has happened to the world?

The next morning, I vaguely remembered something involving lots of candy and an _extremely _long song.

"Edward?" I asked.

"Right here." He said, stroking my hair.

"What happened?" I felt like what I imagined a hangover felt like. Edward chuckled.

"You spent Halloween with the Cullens."

Thanks everyone for reading! I might add a chapter about the sleepover Bella has with Alice if I get enough reviews (hint, hint) Thanks for reading!

Review please!

Bellabookworm9


	2. The Sleepover

Hey everyone! Here I am, updating just this story so I can get it over with! Nah, I really like this story and I'm glad I'm finally finishing it. I can't really think of anything to say except that I probably still won't be updating even though I haven't got that much going on for a while. I'm just not feeling that motivated. And if you read this (or the one at the bottom) please let me know in a review!

_THE Jesus Freak_

_Bellabookworm9_

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"Morning Bells," Said Charlie as I came down the stairs and poured myself a bowl of cereal. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah." I answered nonchalantly. Charlie had no idea just how well I had slept.

"That's good." I nodded, "Hey, I've been meaning to tell you, some of the guys down at La Push have been planning a fishing trip and they invited me to come along. I was thinking I would go, but I can stay behind if you want me to." He looked really excited, so I figured this was my opportunity to have Alice over for the sleepover I had promised her.

"Oh no Dad, don't stay behind on my account. I'll just have Alice over or something. I feel bad for always staying over at her house and never inviting her over here." I smiled, glad that this was going to happen with Charlie out of the house. I didn't want to know what sort of havoc she could wreak without anyone to hold her back.

"That sounds like a great idea, honey."

"So when are you leaving?" I asked, trying to plan ahead.

"Tomorrow, around noon, and we'll get back sometime Monday night."

"Sounds cool. Where are you going?" Please say somewhere far away, please!

"Well, I think we're going to a few places. Someone wanted to try ice fishing, so we might go up toward Vancouver somewhere, but there's no definite schedule right now."

"That sounds great, Dad, I hope you have fun." I said, washing out my bowl and leaving it to dry on a towel by the sink.

"You too. A sleepover with Alice has got to be fun." Charlie grinned. He knew how energetic Alice could get.

"I will. Hopefully Alice won't try and stick me in the washing machine to see what happens." His grin widened.

"Have a great day at school, alright? I've gotta head out now, I'm almost late!" Charlie was completely deluded into thinking that my day was going to be completely normal. He was wrong. With Edward there, nothing was ever normal.

"Bye Dad!" I called as I heard him open the door.

"Bye Bella!" he called back before he shut the door. I ran upstairs and brushed my teeth, waiting for Edward to show up.

When I saw the silver Volvo pull up into the spot where the Chief's cruiser had been just minutes before, I leaped up, grabbed my bag and ran out the door. Oh, and I tripped too.

"Isabella, what am I going to do with you?" Edward asked as he caught me.

"Kiss me?" I asked as he put me on my feet. I saw him smile before his icy lips pressed softly onto mine.

"Alice is psyched," He told me as he held my door open for me, "She's already planning what you two are going to do." I winced. He shut my door and walked around the front of the vehicle at a human pace, infuriating me to no end.

"How bad is it?" I asked when he had finally made it into the car.

"You will be subjected to an endless replay of that…' he shuddered, "_song_, and I believe you will be expected to undergo an extensive makeover."

I couldn't say that I hadn't seen it coming. Any amount of time spent with Alice involved either of two things: shopping or makeovers. Not that I was looking forward to it.

"At least we're not going shopping." I said with a sigh.

"Well…she did try to persuade me to let her take you to Seattle, but I told her not if I couldn't come too. And she seemed dead-set on making this an all-girl thing."

"Thank you, Edward. I don't think I could handle shopping _and _a makeover in the same night." He grinned.

"You're welcome."

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"Oh my gosh Bella! We are going to have so much fun, I can't wait!" Alice was back in jumping-bean mode, and now she was almost making a buzzing noise. That was how excited she was.

"I can't either." I said, trying to sound like I wasn't dreading the endless hours of pointless primping.

"So what time do you want me to come over?" I was beginning to wonder if all the bouncing would addle her brain if she did it for long enough. I was also feeling _very _sorry for Jasper.

"Whenever you want. Charlie's leaving at noon."

"How about I come over right after school? It's not like I have anything to do otherwise."

"Sure, Alice."

"Yay! Oh, Bella?"

"Yes, Alice?"

"Do you have any objection to the color yellow?"

"No, why?"

"I think it would look absolutely spectacular on you."

I barely kept myself from groaning.

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Knock, knock.

"Coming!" I yelled from the bathroom. I had just gotten home and I was attempting to make the house look presentable for Alice.

Knock, knock, knock.

"I'm _coming_!" I yelled again.

Knock, knock, knock, knock.

"Alice!" I yelled as I wrenched the door open. She stood there, her buzzing form bouncing so fast that she only looked like a blur.

"Hi Bella! All my stuff's in the car, if you show me where to put it, I can bring it in." I couldn't tell what her expression was because I couldn't see her face clearly.

"Just put it in the living room, and Alice?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you stop bouncing? I can't see you clearly."

"Oh. Sorry." She said, stopping and grinning up at me. "So I can just put it in the living room?"

"Yeah, that's fine." 

She ran to her car (A yellow Porsche, an exact replica of the one she stole in Italy last year.) and took out five intimidatingly large bags.

"Is that all for you?" I asked, knowing some of it had to be the materials for my makeover.

"No, silly. Only this one's for me." She said, holding up the largest bag. She walked past me and dumped her bags on the floor in the living room.

"Okay." I said, "What now?"

"MAKEOVER!" she screamed with an evil smile.

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Three hours, a bag of chips, lots of makeup, and a few breaks later, I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, transformed.

"Wow, Alice. I still can't believe you manage to make me look different every time you do this." She was standing behind me with a proud smile on her face, the smile you see on parent's faces after their only child has graduated high school.

"It's not that hard, Bella. You're naturally beautiful. All I have to do is enhance it."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the mirror to admire the dress once more. It wasn't the fluorescent yellow color I had imagined when she had first mentioned it to me in fact, it was closer to orange than yellow, a golden color.

"So do I have to stay in this all night?" I asked. As much as I loved the dress, it was not something I wanted to wear for more than an hour.

"No, Bella. You can take it off. I just wanted to test it out—Edward wants to take you out tomorrow night."

"Can I change now?" I was desperate for my sweatpants now.

"Sure."

I walked to my room and changed out of the dress into my sweatpants and a t-shirt. Much better.

It's funny how a man only thinks about the 

_You got a real big heart but I'm lookin' at your_

_You got real big brains but I'm lookin' at your_

_It don't mean a thing if I'm lookin' at your_

Alice had found the CD player then. I didn't understand why Edward and his family had such an aversion to this song. I mean, sure it was probably not their type of music, but they could at least learn to appreciate it, couldn't they?

"Alice?! Could you turn it down a little?" I called as I walked down the stairs.

"Sure!" she turned the knob so the volume went down a few notches. "Come on! Dance with me!" She said, starting to do some sort of herky-jerky dance that made it look like she was doing the robot with a lot of pauses.

"No thanks, Alice. I'm not much of a dancer. I don't want to fall."

"Fine." She said, not sounding offended in the least and continuing her strange dance. I suddenly realized I was hungry, and told Alice I was going to get something from the kitchen—she barely paused.

When I returned to the living room with a bowl of macaroni-and-cheese, Alice was still going at it. I smiled, thinking of how much energy this girl had. Sure, she was a vampire, but it was still amazing.

"Wanna watch a movie?" she asked abruptly. I jumped.

"Oh, um, sure. What do you want to watch?" We didn't really have a great selection.

"I brought a few. How about…The Notebook?"

"Sounds great." I'd seen the movie multiple times—and I'd cried every single time.

"I love this movie." Alice said, feeding it into the DVD player, "It's so sad, but so sweet, you know?"

"Yeah." I said. Girls and romance movies. There was just some sort of natural attraction. Like men and ESPN.

"You ready?" she asked.

"Hit it." I said

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"Okay, Alice. I'll come over some time, I promise." I had a headache and my neck was sore from sleeping on the floor. My eyes were puffy from the crying I'd done during the movie last nights and I finally understood why the Cullens hated that song so much. If I heard it one more time, I was going to crush whoever played it.

"'Kay. See you Monday!" Alice called as she drove away.

"So, my love, did you have a nice night with Alice?" I jumped. I hadn't known Edward was standing beside me.

"It was okay." I told him. He smiled.

"Do you still not understand why we don't like that song?"

"No. I don't think I could take another second of it." His smile widened, and then he kissed me.

"Mmmm, I missed this. I don't like not being able to see you."

"I don't like it either." I said, a bit breathlessly. Why did he have to be so perfect?

"So what do you want to do today?" he asked as I shut the door and walked into the kitchen.

"Nothing. I'm exhausted." I poured myself a bowl of cereal and sat down, eating slowly. I reached up to rub my neck, but I felt two cold hands start to massage it before I could.

"Mmmm…" I moaned, leaning my head flop back and rest on his stomach. I was in heaven.

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Okay, so I hope everyone enjoyed that. I wrote it all in less than an hour and I don't have time to spell check it; so if there are any mistakes, please forgive me!

Bellabookworm9

P.S. Tell me if you actually read this author's note thing. Oh, and if you like TobyMac, I went to one of his concerts on Saturday night at Ichthus in Wilmore, KY. He was AWESOME! (And he is soooo gorgeous. He would make a wonderful Carlisle!)


	3. The Fourth of July

Disclaimer: I don't own it, okay

**Disclaimer: I don't own it, okay? I don't own Alice or Edward or Jasper or Bella or Esme or Carlisle or the clearing or Baseball or Twilight or New Moon or Eclipse or Breaking Dawn. But I do own the idea(s) for the very slow and painful death of one Jacob Black! **

--

_Brrring! Brrring! Brrring!_

I jumped at the sound of the phone. Who could be calling at seven in the morning?

"Hello?" I asked groggily as I answered the phone.

"Bella?" I should have known.

"What is it, Alice?" Leave it to Alice to wake me up at seven during the summer. _She _didn't have to sleep. _I _did.

"I was wondering if you were doing anything for the Fourth of July?"

Charlie hadn't mentioned anything, but I was sure he was probably going fishing.

"I don't think so, Alice, why?" She probably had some insanely large party planned. Or something like that.

"Well, we're all going to play baseball in the clearing and I was wondering if you might want to come? Esme's _dying _to make this recipe she found in some magazine."

It _would _be fun to do something with the Cullens…but I couldn't ever forget the only other time I'd been to their "baseball field." A vampire who was very different from the Cullens had nearly killed me. Not really a great selling point.

Alice interpreted the meaning of my silence and reassured me, "It's okay, Bella. I would have seen it if anything was going to happen. I _promise _you'll be perfectly safe."

"Well," I hesitated, "alright. If you're _absolutely positive _that it's safe." I wasn't going to take any chances.

"I am." She paused a little and then squealed, "Oh my gosh, Bella! I'm so excited! So, we'll pick you up on Wednesday at around nine?" I rolled my eyes. She was probably doing the hyperactive bouncing thing too.

"Sure Alice. I have to ask Charlie though."

"He'll say yes. I saw it." One of the positive things about having a psychic best friend.

"Okay then, I'll see you Wednesday." I was actually looking forward to this.

"Oh, by the way, Edward's at the door." She said before hanging up. Sure enough, as soon as I'd put the phone down, I heard a knock on the door. I smiled. _You are amazing, Alice._

_--_

"Oh, Bella, you're going to _love _the outfit that I got you for today."

I was in the car with Alice on the way to the Cullens' house and, apparently, I was going to be subjected to yet another makeover. When was I ever going to realize that going anywhere constituted a makeover in Alice's book? This shouldn't have come as a surprise to me, but it had.

"Alice, do I really have to do this? I mean, I'm just going to watch you guys play baseball. It's not something I really need to look pretty for."

"But Bella! It's not even a dress this time! And besides," she grinned evilly, "Edward will love it."

"Really?" I asked, instantly interested.

"Yes." She answered, grinning with the victory she knew was hers.

"Fine then. You can play Barbie with me."

"Thank you so much, Bella! You know I love it when we do this." She was bouncing again before we reached the house.

"Yeah," I muttered, "I bet you do enjoy every moment of my torture."

"Oh, come on, Bella!" She said, bouncing out of the car and blurring around to yank me out too. "You know it's not that bad. Besides, Edward always loves the things I do to you."

"Which you know perfectly well is the only reason I agree in the first place. That and if I didn't, you'd pull some freaky vampire thing on me and duct tape me to a chair or something." We were now making our way up the stairs at a human pace—_my_ human pace—that I knew frustrated her to no end.

"No," she said, "Not duct tape. It leaves this weird residue that takes _forever_ to get off. I'd definitely use something less messy."

"Alice!" I screeched turning to her on the stairs, "I was just kidding! I didn't think you actually would have tied me to a chair!"

Suddenly, her face was darker, a menacing look on her model's features. "Bella, Bella, Bella. When will you ever learn? I spent almost a week putting this outfit together. There's no way I'm going to let you get away in a pair of raggedy sweatpants a t-shirt from last year's book drive." With those words, she lifted me over her tiny shoulder and took off toward her bathroom.

"Now," she said, once I was settled in the chair that stood in front of the huge wall-length mirror in her bathroom, "I'm keeping it simple today, so you can't put up a huge fuss like you usually do, okay? Just a few curls and some foundation."

"Fine." I sighed, resigning myself to her control.

--

Okay, so even if the pixie had lied about what she was going to do, I had to admit it looked pretty good. Well, at least compared to what she'd been known to do in the past.

My dark hair hung in glossy waves, slightly shorter than where it had been when I'd walked in, and my face was a neutral color. She'd applied foundation, not only to my face, but to my eyelids also, and, somehow, it made them stand out more than if she'd done them up in something the color of an eggplant.

"Thanks, Alice." I thanked her grudgingly, knowing she'd take the small gesture as an invitation to do me up again.

She squealed (of course), and said "Now for the clothes! Don't worry," She said as I flinched, "I stayed with the simple theme. Stay there." She dashed out and was back before the door had time to shut.

"Here." She handed me two bags from well-known designers, "Don't look at them until I'm gone, okay? I want the full reaction when you're actually _in _the clothes." And she was gone before I could even think of voicing my protest.

I sighed again, thinking of Edward's reaction to the other outfits Alice had forced me into, and opened the first bag.

_Not too bad_, I thought, pulling off my sweatpants and stepping into the dark jeans that had filled the bag. Surprisingly, I loved them. They weren't at all itchy or tight, the way normal jeans were the first time you wore them. _One point for Alice._

I took a deep breath before I moved to the second bag, almost not believing my eyes when I saw what it contained. No, not a skimpy tank top or something elaborate and complicated, just a white camisole and a red polo.

_And Alice scores the winning goal._ I thought as I pulled on first the camisole, and then the polo, turning to see the ensemble in the mirror. It covered me well and I didn't look breathtakingly beautiful, as I was sure Rosalie would, but I looked like me. Just Bella Swan, the police chief's daughter, out to support her country. And for the first time in a while, I felt like I could stand by Edward's side, just being myself, and feel like I belonged there. Yes, I was just Bella Swan. But I sure looked good doing it.

"Alice!" I called, smiling at myself in the mirror. "Alice!"

"Right here." She said from right behind me.

"Oh!" I jumped, my eyes going wide as I spun around to face her. "Um, thanks. For the outfit. I really like it." The smile I'd worn before she'd scared the life out of me gradually began to return as I spoke.

"Good." She smiled, "It's time to go, everyone's waiting out front."

We met everyone outside on the lawn, standing beside Emmett's colossal Jeep.

My eyes searched for the one person they existed to see, and I found him leaning against the passenger door, his eyes also trained on me. I smiled a wide smile and walked to his side.

"You're not running?" I asked him before he could obliterate my mind with a simple look.

"Carlisle and Esme are. Emmett wanted to get 'all the kids' together. God knows what he's planning but who am I to object?"

"You can't hear him?" I tapped a finger to his temple.

"He's blocking me by making up a perverted version of 'Handlebars,' complete with visuals. "

I winced in sympathy, wrapping my arm around his waist and resting my head below his shoulder, "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." He said as Alice bounced over trailing Jasper behind her. She waited patiently by the door until he got there to open the door for her—the handle was at least two feet above her reach. He also picked her up and sat her in the seat, though I was sure she could have made the jump herself. "Your turn." Edward whispered in my ear before lifting me up effortlessly and placing me in the seat behind Jasper, and leaping in himself to settle beside me. Emmett already sat in the driver's seat, Rosalie beside him riding shotgun. They were talking quietly and I saw small smiles on both of their faces.

"So, I don't believe I've told you how beautiful you look." Edward whispered in my ear as Emmett started the Jeep and began to drive down the winding driveway.

"No." I told him back, blushing at the emotion behind his voice. "But you're looking pretty good yourself." It was true, even though he was only wearing a navy t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

He grinned a crooked smile and planted a light kiss just below my ear before pulling my head to lean on his chest again, to which I gladly complied.

"Before we begin our journey—" Emmett began, before Alice cut him off.

"I wouldn't call it a _journey_ Emmett. It's more like a short trip."

"_Fine_." He said, "Before we begin our _short trip_, I would like to clarify a few rules."

"Rules?" Jasper asked, "What exactly are we going to be doing, Emmett?"

"You'll find out when everyone else does, Jasper. Okay. So the rules. You have to go along with everything, no protesting." He shot a glance at me in the rearview mirror, "No uses of powers to manipulate any outcomes." This time, the glances were for Edward, Alice, and Jasper, "And finally, nothing leaves the Jeep. Does everyone agree?" I stole a glance at Edward, verifying with him that Emmett wasn't going to make me twirl my underwear around my head or something ridiculous like that. He nodded and we both agreed to the terms, as did everyone else.

"Okay then." Emmett said "Let's begin."

--

An hour later, I jumped out of the Jeep with every intention to never enter it again.

Emmett had forced us to play what was probably the most embarrassing game of I have never that existed on the planet. Each round had been themed, the themes ranging from animals to lingerie. Every time someone said something that you'd done, you had to tell the story. Unfortunately, over the years, I'd done my fair share of things, mostly on accident, but I'd still had to tell the stories.

"You okay?" Edward asked, picking me up from where I'd remained sprawled on the ground.

"I have never," I started, murder in my eyes, "wanted to kill someone more than I want to kill your demonic brother at this instant." He chuckled and began leading me through the forest toward the baseball field.

"Don't worry," he said, "I'll help you when the time comes. However, I believe that Esme will be severely disappointed if you don't get to eat before you commit your first felony."

Of course, I hadn't been the only one humiliated. Edward, Jasper, Alice, and even Rosalie had been forced to tell stories they probably didn't even want to think about ever again. They'd each had a few, but the most embarrassing by far had been the one Edward had told about walking into Alice's closet and somehow falling into the lingerie section and getting himself tangled in it. _How _someone as graceful as one of the Cullens, especially Edward, could fall was beyond me, but it had happened.

Soon, we arrived at the large clearing to find everyone in their positions, waiting for Edward. He left me with Esme before he jogged to his position in the outfield.

"Are you hungry, Bella?" She asked, gesturing to a large picnic basket resting on the rock where we were sitting.

"Starving." I smiled back, "I haven't eaten since breakfast."

"Oh, dear, did that daughter of mine forget to feed you? Well, we shouldn't have any of this. Eat, eat!" She'd laid in front of me a few Tupperware containers. One held macaroni salad, another a chicken salad sandwich, and another had a few slices of juicy pink watermelon.

"Esme, you didn't have to do this for me. I would have been fine with just some crackers and cheese or something." Despite my protests, I was already opening the container that held the macaroni salad—my favorite Fourth of July meal.

"No, no, Bella. It was my pleasure. I've always wanted to try cooking, and now I see that I was not a complete failure at it." Her face broke into a soft smile.

"It's very good Esme, not that I expected anything less. You're all very good at everything you try." She smiled again, turning her attention to the field where some squabble was occurring over whether or not Emmett had made it to the base before Edward had caught the ball. Esme called it—Emmett had been safe—and the game continued.

It was very like the last time I'd been here—the score fluctuated constantly and there were little disagreements over trivial things, always solved, of course, by Esme's watchful eye. The thunder also boomed eerily, echoing off the mountains and traveling toward the town, and it never rained on the clearing—a perfect repeat of the previous time, minus the bloodthirsty tracker.

Finally, the game ended at the end of the ninth inning—Edward's team had won. They cheerfully shook hands with Carlisle, Rosalie, and Emmett, congratulating each other on the good game, and Edward ran over to me, picking me up and twirling me around with a goofy grin on his face.

"Good game!" I told him breathlessly after he kissed me lightly. The silly grin was still on his face as he thanked me and sat down with me on his lap. "What's up with the grin, mister?" I asked, tracing his perfect lips with the tip of my finger.

He shrugged, "I just haven't had a chance to really let go recently. That was really fun." I beamed back at him.

"I'm glad you had such a good time. What are we doing now?" I asked, noticing for the first time that it was getting dark, and that Emmett, Carlisle, and Rosalie were all missing. "Where is everyone?"

"You'll see." Was his cryptic answer. He laid back and set me off to his side, but so that I was still in contact with him, and we stared up at the clouds, eerily illuminated from behind by the moon.

"You know, they're actually kind of pretty." I said.

"Not as pretty as you." He said and I turned to see him looking only at me. His finger reached up to brush a curl out of my face and then made a path down my cheek to brush lightly along my slightly parted lips.

_BOOM!_

The loud noise had startled me so much that I'd literally jolted forward and been poked in the nose by Edward's rock-hard finger. "_Ow!"_I screamed, covering the spot and then checking to see if it was bleeding. It wasn't, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell.

"A little warning might have been called for, Emmett!" Edward yelled over my shoulder as he pried my fingers away from my nose and began to examine it. "It doesn't look that bad. Does it hurt?" I nodded, "Do we need to leave?" I shook my head. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." I gasped out. "I'll be okay. What was that?"

"Fireworks." He said with a smile.

"Really?" I asked, "Charlie said they didn't usually get them in Forks because of all the rain and everything but…wow."

"We don't usually get them either, but Emmett really wanted to try this year, so we bought some and…he's a little overexcited."

"Understandable." I smiled, fireworks had always been something I loved,

"Is it okay now?" Emmett's voice called from somewhere across the field.

"Yes!" Alice hollered back, "Just shoot the stupid things off so we can go home!"

"Alice doesn't like fireworks?" I asked, turning to look up at the sky as the beautiful balloons of sparks burst above my head.

"No," Edward replied, "Jasper doesn't. The noises remind him of gunshots. The war was really a terrorizing time for him. He doesn't like to remember it." Sure enough, as I turned my head, Jasper was sitting up with his head in his lap, arms wrapped around himself, and Alice was rubbing a small hand across his back as she stared up at the wonder above.

"Too bad. They're really good." I turned back to the sky, watching until the very end, where Emmett somehow set off about five at the same time and created a giant explosion that managed to look like a tie-dye effect.

"Wow." I said, standing up and stretching. "Those were probably the best fireworks I've ever seen. Good job Emmett!"

"Thanks!" he said, walking over to where the rest of us had been sitting. "I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull the last one off, but it looked really cool, didn't it?"

"Yeah." I said with a smile, and then a yawn. I hadn't realized how late it had gotten.

"Bedtime for the human." Edward said, pulling me up on his back, and taking off. Somewhere along the way, I fell asleep, the lulling movement of his body soothing me into a restful dream.

--

**So sorry everyone! Ugh, I know I always promise to update, but I just never seem to manage it, do I? Well, I worked hard to get this out today, for all of you to read!**

**Okay, so to make up for being such a lazy, terrible author, I have decided to ask you all some questions to get to know you better. And NOT just ones about the story.**

**So….What's everyone's favorite song?**

**Easy enough, right? Good. I hope to get some answers. Also, go check out my profile, I just updated it with new info and a new poll!**


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